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This young man with bulging, wide-set eyes, who looks at the camera like an excited teenager, drives an Alfa Romeo, a vehicle from the company he works for and for which he will compete as a driver in the Giro di Sicilia. This Italian, born in Modena, son of a metalworker, grandson of a butcher, smiles holding the steering wheel and seems relieved, hopeful, perhaps sensing that from now on his life will change, that the worst is over. It is the year 1920 and the boy with the panoramic gaze has survived a war. He has lost his father, his brother, has contracted an illness that almost ended his life, has been out of work several times, and is alone. He is 22 years old and his hopeful spirit does not lead him astray. He is in the right place at the right time and he is going to take advantage of it.
Professional success did not elude Enzo Ferrari. He worked in everything that was needed. Tester dell'automobile, mechanic, driver, salesman, headhunter of the best engineers from the competition, he even worked as a journalist. It didn't take him long to create a profitable network of distributors in different areas of the country. He set up a racing team under his name. But to achieve his primary objective, to fulfill the dream that obsessed him since childhood, the young man with the bulging eyes had to wait. A lot. Three decades. Endure another war and approach half a century of life to be able to achieve what he truly desired: to win races with his own car.
An elite car appeared and the dream of the child who, at ten years old, had seen Vincenzo Lancia compete in the Coppa Florio came true. The first roar of the first Ferrari began one of the most exciting automotive adventures of the industrial era.The Design Museum in London celebrates seventy years since the creation of the first Ferrari. The so-called 125 S (whose exact replica opens the exhibition) was conceived in 1945 with Italy in ruins and saw the light two years later. When the climate of austerity favored the appearance of scootersor simple utilities, the obsession of this man, then already mature, respected and feared, nicknamedthe Commander, the Knightoril Capo, it materialized. An elite car appeared, and the dream of the child who, at ten years old, had seen Vincenzo Lancia compete in the Coppa Florio, came true. The first roar of the first Ferrari began one of the most exciting automotive adventures of the industrial era.
«UNDER THE SKIN»
Under this title, the exhibition aims to demonstrate that the DNA of a Ferrari does not reside in its appearance, in its skin, in its violent red. The precious and detailed hand drawings, the clay or wood models, the clear explanations of the design process prove this. Il Commendatore made it very clear: «Of my car, they will never say: "What a shame, it didn't win, despite how beautiful it is." Nobody remembers who comes in second place».
Enzo Ferrari not only surrounded himself with the best engineers of the time, but also with those who were endowed with an innate Italian sense of aesthetics, as well as draftsmen trained in classical art schools. And the motto was one: just as a sculptor must know the human skeleton to sculpt a body, the design of a Ferrari must be born from the perfect relationship between all its components (the engine, the gearbox, the axles, the chassis). The search for ideal weight and mechanical purity had to lay, from the very first layout, the fundamental bases of the car's geometry.
Peter Sellers, Alain Delon, Steve McQueen, Roberto Rossellini, Ingrid Bergman or Roger Vadim are some of the personalities who succumbed to that desire and contributed to elevating the name of an automobile, turning it into something bigger, intangible, an identity in the collective imagination.
PATRICIA URQUIOLA AND PENTAGRAM
The brilliant pairing between the person responsible for the setup, the prestigious Asturian architect, and the already legendary communication and graphic design studio could only generate an exhibition of the highest level: precise, understandable, visually very attractive. The tour is organized through six major themes (Enzo. The form. The engine. The races. I clienti. Ferrari today), and the models, prototypes, chassis, and the fourteen Ferrari models on display appear at every step and in the ideal place, under an almost intimate atmosphere that at times turns them into sculptures, into design pieces, most of the time into authentic objects of desire.
Peter Sellers, Alain Delon, Steve McQueen, Roberto Rossellini, Ingrid Bergman or Roger Vadim are some of the characters who succumbed to that desire and contributed to elevating the name of a car, turning it into something bigger, intangible, an identity in the collective imagination. Celebrities who reserved their models, placed an order, a delivery note, signed an invoice and turned vulgar documents into precious testimonies that, kept until now in the hands of private collectors or in the Ferrari Museum in Maranello, are shown to the public for the first time.
THE LEGEND
Enzo was an enigma to all who dealt with him. Distant, somewhat arrogant. Surprisingly accessible at times. Gifted at dealing with the press. There was a day when he put on sunglasses and never took them off again. With them he attended (or not) to his American clients (Clint Eastwood, Sammy Davis Junior, Paul Newman), most of whom believed he was an aristocrat. The legend continued its course.
Enzo never took a plane, barely left Italy, the mere idea of taking a vacation irritated him. The fatal accidents that unfortunately his team suffered always tormented him; he lost friends, drivers and was criticized and prosecuted several times for it (although always acquitted). For the last thirty years of his life he stopped attending the races where his cars competed. That naive teenage look disappeared very soon. But his dream had been more than fulfilled.
Featured photos:
- Enzo Ferrari at the Targa Florio in 1920. - The car is an Alfa Romeo 40-60 HP Racing Type
- 125 S is positioned at the entrance of the Ferrari factory, 1947
- Enzo Ferrari with the 125 S in the courtyard of Fabbrica. At the wheel is Ferdinando Nando Righetti
- Meeting on the 20th Anniversary of the 250 GTO. In the picture deployment of GTOs in the estate of Pierre Bardinon
- Ferrari 275 GTB 4 by Scaglietti with Steve McQueen, 1967 _Image Courtesy of RM Auctions
- Crafting of clay design model of Ferrari J50
- Visit to Ferrari - Mick Jagger, leader of the Rolling Stones, on the delivery of his GTO
- Kimi Raikkonen at Russian Grand Prix at Sochi
- Enzo Ferrari at the entrance of the Ferrari Factory, 1957